


I'm a Paranoid Villain Harvester

by Lazypandatranslations



Category: I'm a Paranoid Villain Harvester
Genre: F/M, Obsession, Obsessive Behavior, Rebirth, Villains, Yandere, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:27:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29026476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazypandatranslations/pseuds/Lazypandatranslations
Summary: In many worlds, the system data was sent into chaos due to some kind of obsession skyrocketing, turning decent protagonists into murderous villains.The system appointed You Xu to cross into the world, warm the paranoid villains, and gain their trust to eliminate the root causes.The system fully believes in its ability to choose people until it discovered–.In particular, You Xu provoked the villains to be even more paranoid, and the whole world was chaotic as if it was swept away by a virus.The system crashed: “Ah, didn’t I tell you to eliminate them?”You Xu: “harvesting means the same thing.”System: “.”Eliminating = Harvesting (?)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [我是偏执反派收割机[快穿]](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/749931) by 采舟伴月. 



You Xu is dead.

Died on a sunny and beautiful day.

That day, she took advantage of her spare time to go hiking in the mountains to enjoy the flowers, and she was killed by a boulder that suddenly fell.

Before she had time to regret it, her soul drifted through the long dark tunnel to a cliff full of white flowers.

It was a place she had never seen before and she didn’t have the slightest impression, but she felt inexplicably familiar as if she should have been growing up here.

Then she kept floating up to the land of no one.

In the empty scene...it can't be said to be empty, because there is still a stick figure there?!

Therefore, after death, people will not become stars, nor will they go to heaven or hell, and they will not see gods, but only one... Stick figure.

It had a black hat, wooden body, and its workmanship is very rough. If you look closely, you can see the sawdust on it.

"Hello, Quick Transmigration trainee, You Xu," the stick figure said in a business tone. "I am system seventy-eight that is bound to you."

You Xu used personal experience to prove that death is not necessarily the end, it may be a turning point.

She answered casually: "say seventy-eight, let’s both be civilized."

System: "."

The two looked at each other for a moment, and You Xu waved: "Continue."

"There are countless parallel worlds in time and space that you can't see. Some worlds are deranged because of a certain strong obsession, turning people who were originally supposed to be decent male protagonists into murderous villains. All you have to do is warm them and get rid of them after gaining their trust."

You Xu sat cross-legged with a calm face: "You mean to get rid of them, then can't your system just kill them?"

The system said: "According to their original setting, there is a protagonist's aura. In their world, they are gods. Even if they become villains, the protagonist's aura will still be there."

You Xu propped up his chin and analyzed it: "so, if there are countless computers in the world, and there are always a few viruses that have to be killed?"

"you... If you understand it that way. It’s fine " The stick figure had a grudging look on his face.

You Xu let out an indifferent oh.

The system saw that she did not panic at all, and could not help saying, "aren't you afraid? those people are all alienated psychopathic killers, and these scum don’t care about the three views."

(T/N: I believe that the three views it talks about are the 3 major philosophies in China which are Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism)

"Heaven gives a strong responsibility to the people," You Xu said leisurely. "If my heart and mind don’t suffer, it will be good for me. If I can maintain health, it will be better. Don't have many high demands on other things."

There is no sense of pursuit and responsibility at all.

"." The system put up with it and stabilized its expression. "is there anything else you want to ask?"

You Xu took a look at it and said slowly, "your system looks so low-level. Can't you do a 50-cent special effect or build a model?"

"." The system obviously didn't want to pay attention to her problem, so it stood upside down on its head, drew a circle around You Xu with its forehead, rusting and sparking a little.

The stick figure left a black circle on the blank ground, and in a flash, it rushed out of a pillar of fire, enveloping You Xu.

Although she didn't feel the pain of being burned by the fire, she felt like a potato thrown into a gas stove, and then she heard the system say, "all right, the first world begins."

"wait." Before she could say anything more, her body was wrenched into a twisted whirlpool, and a lot of things squeezed into her mind, it felt painful, she was dizzy, and there was intense nausea akin to motion sickness.

Soon, a storyline formed in You Xu's mind.

The world she was about to go to is a more modern and diverse world, which has experienced apocalyptic times before when zombies infested the planet, and the zombie king was the only zombie with human consciousness, he manipulated zombies to bring destruction to mankind, and in the end, mankind with the light of science emerged victorious, after the zombies were wiped out, everything was prosperous, and mankind re-established its home.

But only 50 years later, after seeing the zombie king manipulating the army of zombies, some people with crooked minds were so excited that they fantasized about being able to control puppets that would never rebel, so they wanted to develop an equivalent replacement for the zombie king-the puppet king.

They set up an underground laboratory, concealed it, courted a group of scientific fanatics, and used the preserved remains of the zombie king to do experiments. after tens of thousands of failures, Duan Min, the puppet king, was born.

They always thought that what they had created would follow their demands and that as long as they manipulated the puppet king, they would have a puppet army, but they did not expect that the thing made by cold instruments had no human emotions but had its own consciousness from the beginning.

Duan Min turned the people who made him into puppets and then manipulated them to commit suicide. he was so disgusted with the population that he directly hid himself and lived in a house. Whenever someone came to rent a house, they became his experimental subject.

In that world, she was also called you Xu, a genuine cannon fodder. She lived in Duan Min's building and was dissected alive and died by him.

Corresponding to cannon fodder is the female lead. You Qi, who is also You Xu’s cousin, as the female lead, gave Duan Min the only trace of warmth. People in the dark always tend to seek out those who are in the light. Duan Min naturally fell madly in love with You Qi, but he hid his love deeply because he thinks he doesn't deserve it.

You Qi likes Xu Shaosi, the son of a high-ranking official. Xu Shaosi had an affair with her, which is discovered by his fiancée Lin Lanlan, who becomes jealous and sets the You family up for destruction. You Qi loses his child and finally commits suicide in despair.

Duan Min's beloved person died of hatred, causing his hatred for humans to skyrocket like never before. He created an army of puppets to fight against humans, and human beings were ripped apart and human civilization regressed for hundreds of years. He finally died from exhaustion.

After reading the world line, You Xu was silent, only a paragraph of text was enough to make her back hair stand up and her scalp burst.

She even pictured herself lying on a cold test-bed, helplessly watching her flesh cut by a scalpel, full of despair and pain.

The protagonist's halo she understood a little bit, but he still has the protagonist's halo when he becomes a villain. What's the bug, and does it make people live or die?

You Xu crouched in front of the light door and hugged herself: "wait a minute, how can a good world be like eschatology? don't you think this task is very abnormal? why are we doing a task of this magnitude first? I think we should proceed step by step starting with a simple level. "

"Host, stop talking," the system interrupted, gritting its teeth. "this is a rookie task."

"Is this the task of the novice? There must be some mistake. No, wait a minute. "

Instead of giving her a chance to talk nonsense, the system slammed the black hat into her back.

A strong thrust came from behind, You Xu was slammed forward and rolled out of the light door, and her body immediately had a sense of reality.

She was standing in front of a dark iron door, her finger on the doorbell, and the doorbell rang in her ear.

After a moment, You Xu received the previous plot. She just moved to this building today. When she came back from dinner, she came to the landlord with great enthusiasm and initiative. She wanted to say hello and be polite. So she came to the black iron door and rang the doorbell.

Normal actions, normal behavior, and normal things. The only abnormal thing is the fact that the original body didn’t know that her landlord is a villain BOSS or a boss who can dismember people without a word of disagreement.

The more cannon fodder, the easier it is to die early, the original body was quietly cooped up in the house, she also was sent to the guillotine within 2 strokes?

No wonder she didn't get much of the original body’s memory, because the original body was dealt with at the speed of light.

You Xu immediately withdrew her hand, turned around quickly, and wanted to leave the battlefield, praying silently in her heart 18,000 times that Duan Min was not at home, Duan Min would not open the door, and Duan Min would not hear it.

As a result, as soon as her body turned halfway, she heard a "click -" and the door opened.

The slight sound was pulled by the wind in the corridor for a long time, like a melody from hell.

You Xu’s scalp was numb, her neck was stiff, and her eyes looked iver hopelessly.

The man who came out was dressed in black long-sleeved sweaters, casual trousers and a hat, looking extremely indifferent.

His skin seemed as if he had never seen sunlight before, it was cold and white, he had deep facial features, smooth and beautiful lines, with brown eyes and red lips.

There is a sense of youth, but the temperament is extremely cold.

You Xu looked at him blankly for two seconds, and the system said in her head, "Host, what's wrong with your heart rate? it's a little fast."

"can your system still measure my heartbeat?"

"of course, our system is very functional."

"fear and fear will raise adrenaline," he replied. "you're a stick figure. You don't understand."

System: "."

Duan Min's eyes were introverted and hooked, with thin double eyelids and tea brown eyes that were clear and beautiful.

It was just that the eyes narrowed slightly at her, cold and shady, as if they were looking at some kind of experiment.

A chill ran down You Xu’s back, she swallowed and asked the system weakly, "Guess what he's thinking now?"

"I guess," the system said slowly, "He hates the smell of living people and is trying to figure out where to dissect you."

"."

Sorry, she doesn't want to play in this world!

Help!

The author has something to say: thank you for reading the article, love you all.

end.


	2. Chapter 2

IAPVH Chapter 2

His eyes were slightly narrowed, and a murderous intent poured out undisguised.

That's it, he was just staring at her coldly.

Suddenly, You Xu felt that the wind in the corridor had become stronger,

You Xu suddenly felt the wind in the corridor become stronger, whistling and whirring into her clothes, causing her to stand on edge.

Unparalleled silence.

You Xu knew that she was dead, after all, the cannon fodder could not survive three episodes, and she had completed her mission of cannon fodder.

But she was going to die struggling.

You Xu’s eyes dropped, and she noticed that she was carrying a plastic bag in her left hand, which contained a paper rectangular box with a cartoon of egg tart in it.

The original body went to dinner and came back with a box of egg tarts as a snack to eat, You Xu took the opportunity to take out the box and open it, presenting it with both hands, bending low, like a subservient little eunuch, in a pleasing tone said: "Sorry to disturb you, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to eat dessert?"

The person on the other side didn't speak, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to talk nonsense. "I'm a resident who just moved next door, You Xu. I have to disturb and take the liberty in the future. I don't mean anything, but I think the egg tarts are delicious and bought them on purpose. If you don't mind, why don't you try it?"

To tell you the truth, with this ardent tone and professional smile, she feels like a door-to-door salesman. Hello, would you like to try the bedding?

But it is absolutely right to prove that she was not hostile and would not revolt. Now running for her life would prove that she has a guilty conscience.

But the opposite side still did not give a reaction, her hands were a little sore, and she looked up to see what the situation was, but she was stunned after seeing it.

The box of things she was holding in her hand was not the golden sun-shaped egg tarts she had imagined.

Most of the box was empty, and there were only two egg tarts inside. The edges of the egg tarts were gnawed around, crushed everywhere, looking miserable and ugly.

She then added the previous clip, the original body likes to eat egg tarts, she liked to eat the edge of the crust the most, the original body previously ate four, so the remaining two were still there but the crust was nibbled off.

You Xu: "..." To be reasonable, this can kill the people behind.

What to say, she didn't even dare to look at the boss's expression.

Ring the doorbell, and after the people are brought out, give a box of dog-chewed egg tarts. It looks like a joke. Can someone who can be the villain of the world not lose his temper? Being tricked this way, if he didn't trample her into the flesh, it will also affect her ability to hang out with the boss in the future?

After a brief moment, You Xu calmed down, calmly accepting the bleak fact that she was about to die.

She closed the box, retracted her hand, and gave a professional smile: "I'm joking with you, I'll buy you a new one—"

Before she finished her words, Duan Min turned and entered the room and closed the door.

There was a "bang".

In the cold wind, You Xu accepted an impossible fact she had actually survived.

Not daring to stay longer, You Xu quickly retreated to her door, took out the key to open the door and close the door, a set of actions were completed in one go, for fear that Duan Min would turn his head and carry a big knife out.

You Xu walked into the living room, she threw the things in her hands into the trash can, and collapsed on the sofa.

Gee, she almost caused a bloody scene over dog-chewed egg tarts.

Duan Min is pretty good-looking, but the risk factor is too high. She has no idea how many days she can survive. How can this task be done.

You Xu pondered the plot and asked the system: "Duan Min's impulse to destroy the world comes from You Qi. As long as I take You Qi far away, he can't get in touch with Youqi, he won't be warmed by her, and then he won't fall in love with her and do crazy things. isn't that it? "

The system was surprised by her unusual way of thinking, and then mercilessly punctured her dream: "this won't work."

"Why not?"

"Remember what I said," the system said, "the villain turned into by the protagonist belongs to a powerful 'god' in a different world, and if it is not eliminated, it will always be a hidden danger that threatens the world."

You Xu added: "your system is not also very powerful, just kill him directly."

System: "This is his world. We are foreign objects. Forcible interference will be rejected and will not work. That's why we send you quick transmigrators to enter and give you your true identity into these worlds, which cannot be detected by the villain. Then at the right time, you’ll approach them and get rid of them after gaining their trust."

You Xu, a weak chicken, couldn’t say anything. Even if she can break apples with her bare hands and split durian with one hand, she couldn't kill a person.

The system saw that she was paralyzed there with her mouth opening like a fish, and finally it said: "Don't be so discouraged, quick transmigrator trainees will be rewarded for being newcomers."

You Xu’s eyebrows raised up and she asked, "What reward?"

The system said: "Commonly known as golden finger, what privilege do you want?"

Thinking of the golden fingers in the novels before, people can transform the sky with one hand, earning a pot full of money to become a winner, and finally reach the pinnacle of life stories, You Xu had a little interest, "Anything?"

The system confidently said: "Of course, our system is very advanced."

You Xu nodded and pointed at the opposite wall solemnly, "I wish that the villain over there would be wiped out."

"." The system became the first system in history to be blinded, "only one that works on you can be promised."

You Xu said reluctantly, "then I want three more golden fingers."

"Engaging in malpractice for personal gain," the system said nobly and coldly, "No."

You Xu: "then I want the nine lives of the nine-tailed fox." If her fate is good, she may be able to make it to the final game.

System: "Don't even think about it."

You Xu gave a tut and said, "then I want three thousand handsome bastards!"

System: "." Is this a fucking psychopath?

\--.

You Xu's new residence had three bedrooms, two living rooms, one kitchen, and one bathroom, with a space of 100 meters square and it had basic furniture, but the original host has not yet begun to clean and tidy up, dust can be seen everywhere, and the ground is full of things, large and small, that have just been moved and bought.

It seems that it would take a long time to tidy up, You Xu remembered to check the account balance first, seeing that there was enough money, she was immediately in a good mood, and then fell asleep after a simple wash.

The next morning, sunlight shone into the room through the glass window and created a little white halo on the wooden floor.

You Xu woke up in a daze, her stomach bag was like a deflated balloon, she was so hungry that she felt dizzy.

She sat up slowly, lifted the quilt, and looked down to see that the girl's white and delicate legs looked better on the light blue sheets.

"Ding Ding Ding," she heard a sudden ringing three times in her mind, and the system said: "The task has been assigned, please accept it."

You Xu let out a sigh and said lazily, "read it."

"Turn the villain’s trust value to 60, reward 1000 points, the current trust value is 0."

You Xu agreed, slowly got out of bed, walked around the half-open pink suitcase, stepping over a pile of clothes, and walked across the floor to the kitchen.

She opened the refrigerator, there was only newly bought milk and bread, she tore open a bag of bread, picked up a carton of milk, she crouched on the ground motionless, staring at the refrigerator lost in thought.

You Xu spoke suddenly: "Goldfinger, I want--"

The system immediately said, "Ten thousand refrigerators?" It can be regarded as knowing the brain circuit of the host, and the host can never be speculated by common sense.

"." Can you still talk well, You Xu said casually, "to be able to cook."

The system is somewhat speechless, is it so casual? it sees other hosts who increase strength value, wealth value, beauty value, and its host needs a cooking skill, it was grounded.

Sure enough, other people’s hosts are other people’s hosts.

But looking at the serious look of the host, the system feels that she must have chosen to cook out of some strategic consideration. there was a saying that if you want to catch a man's heart, you must first grab his stomach.

She must be trying to win the trust of Duan Min. It must be so.

There can be no other possibility, the system firmly thought, but can not help but ask: "Why cooking?"

You Xu, after two bites of bread, her cheeks bulged and she said, "it's convenient to eat." Her tone was casual.

In her previous life, she ate in the canteen when she was at school and ate staff meals after work. She always wanted to eat by herself, but she had no cooking skills. Now she has a chance to experience life, so of course she has to try it.

After eating two bites of the bread, she stood up and went to wash. She went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. She thought it was too worthwhile.

This face is really good-looking, with a small palm-sized face, red lips and bright apricot eyes, which are as transparent as a glass ball, containing fine shredded light.

It looks gentle, quiet and temperamental.

She looked at it for a long time and smiled to herself in the mirror.

After washing, You XU began to clean up the house, from the bedroom to the living room, first wipe off the dust, then put things away, and finally sweep the floor and mop the floor.

She was not finished until the afternoon. She wrote down the things she needed to buy in her mind, and then went out shopping with a mouthful of milk in her mouth.

This world was more modern, the buildings are taller, but more regular, the scenery was better and more refined, there is no rubbish graffiti on the walls in every corner, and there is a floating electronic display board that displayed advertisements every 100 meters. 

You Xu went to the nearest supermarket, walked around, bought wallpaper, table cloths, and curtains, fruits, vegetables, and snacks, plus a lot of daily necessities, ending up in her having four large bags.

When you buy it, you feel good, and when you take it, you are tired.

There was a small shared robot at the entrance of the supermarket to help people carry things, but the last one was driven away. You Xu waited for a long time and couldn’t find one, so she had to carry it back by himself.

You Xu came back panting, she found that there was no elevator in Duan Min's building, and this building with such exquisite and beautiful decoration did not even have an elevator. Is that fair?

Maybe because the boss never leaves the house, the elevator is not necessary for him.

You Xu looked down at what was in her hand, sighing that life was really hard for a while, and then resigned to climb the stairs.

When the turtle moved quickly to the fourth floor, she heard footsteps coming from the stairwell, a heavy sound, again and again, coming from the bottom to the top.

This building could house dozens of households, but it has been always been cold as an empty building, because the people who live in it have become puppets or experiments.

Someone emerged at that moment and she could not help but fix her eyes on the corner downstairs, and soon a big, ferocious-looking big brother came up.

He was expressionless, and his eyes were blank as he walked up.

You Xu tentatively shouted, "Hello, Big Brother, is it convenient for you to carry something?"

As if he had never heard her, the man kept walking towards the corner upstairs, disappearing.


	3. Chapter 3

You Xu didn’t give up and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Hey, Big Brother!"

The system came out and said, "He can't hear you. The puppet only listens to the people who manipulate him. Duan Min doesn't go out. He instructs the puppet to do whatever he wants to do."

After hearing this, You Xu had to bury her head and go upstairs. As soon as she put down her things, she laid down on the sofa. After a while, she asked, "Is the Goldfinger activated?"

The system crossed its stick legs and snapped: "It's on."

You Xu was in high spirits, she picked up the ingredients and went to the kitchen.

Not to mention, the activation of the Goldfinger was different, corresponding to the ingredients, there were several kinds of dishes in her brain, her hands automatically picked up and washed the vegetables to prepare dishes, cutting onions so fluently that she wanted to cry.

As a matter of fact, she cooked once before. When she was in junior high school, she fried a Chinese cabbage. As soon as the cabbage was put into the pot, the oil crackled, which scared her so much that she dodged left and right, like a bouncing frog. Finally, she was kicked out of the kitchen by her parents and from then on the kitchen was insulated.

(T/N: Insulated means protected by interposing material that prevents the loss of heat or the intrusion of sound.)

Because of her Goldfinger, her hands were skillful and swift. Not long after, two dishes were out of the pot, braised pork tenderloin and steamed fish Head with diced hot red peppers.

The aroma of crisp peppers drifted, directly appealing to taste buds.

You Xu pondered for a moment, then dried her hands, opened the windows and doors to let the fragrance spread out, and then she went to the kitchen to cook the next dishes.

After the rice in the rice cooker was cooked, You Xu brought out the remaining dishes and soup.

She scooped up a bowl of rice and couldn't wait to lift her chopsticks to eat a piece of tenderloin. The meat was tender and fresh, and she sucked up the juices, which were extremely delicious.

You Xu sighed: "It is indeed a golden finger."

The system is quite proud: "Yes, our system is super strong."

"If I go to open a restaurant," You Xu said after taking a few more mouthfuls of food and swallowing it. “I would take over the street.”

"..." It didn't know whether its host was too ambitious or too unambiguous, "Can you consider destroying the target first?"

You Xu choked and warned him: "Don't use words indiscriminately."

System: "What are you thinking about?"

"......"

You Xu cleared the dishes and put down her chopsticks contentedly when she was full.

There was still a plate of steamed spare ribs on the table, which is for Duan Min, because she didn’t know his taste, it was safer to choose a light and tasty dish.

You Xu got up and went to the kitchen to cut up some cucumbers and carrots, setting them on a plate. After the decoration was done properly, she took the plate of ribs and went to the dark iron door again.

She took a deep breath, held her breath, and pressed the doorbell after she had done enough mental exercises.

After the doorbell rang and no one answered, she pressed it twice.

After a long time, the door opened, and the other side of the door was completely dark, and he was in casual black clothes and black trousers. If it wasn’t for his white skin, she wouldn’t be able to see anyone in the open door.

He had no intention of coming out, but You Xu felt his eyes fall on her.

The first time she was introduced, the second time she got familiar, You Xu was not as scared as the first time, but her back involuntarily tightened. She showed the professional smile of the salesperson: "Remember me, I am your neighbor You Xu who came to your door yesterday. I made you laugh yesterday. I made a plate of steamed pork ribs to apologize today. Would you like to try it?"

The person in the crack of the door just stared at her coldly, without speaking.

Unexpectedly, You Xu continued as usual: "This is the marinated pork ribs mixed with steamed rice noodles, added a little fresh fish soup, steamed, it is not oily nor light and the taste is rich and delicate. ."

You Xu blinked and smiled sweetly: "Do you want to try it?"

Quiet for a moment.

Two words rang coldly, "Don't want." Then the door slid closed.

His voice was low and deep as if he hadn't spoken to anyone for a long time, and his voice was dry and slightly sandy, a polished texture that was extremely pleasant to hear.

You Xu stood there in a daze, holding a tray in one hand and squeezing her earlobe with the other hand.

She looked down at the ribs in her hand, pondered, turned back to her room, took out a stool with thin legs and that was half a man's height, placing it in the hallway against the wall, and placed the plate of ribs in her hand on the stool.

If Duan Min wants to eat, he can get it as soon as he opens the door and reaches for it.

After finishing this, You Xu returned to her living room again and cleaned the dining table.

The next day, You Xu opened the door and saw that the ribs on the stool in the corridor were still there. The ribs had already cooled down, and the oil on the surface had condensed into a thin layer, leaving it intact.

Not discouraged, she rang Duan Min's doorbell at 19:00 every night and waited for him to open the door. After being rejected daily, she put things on the stool by his door.

For half a month, Duan Min never took a bite of what she made, but he did not really kill her either.

It wasn't until one day that Yu Xu rang the doorbell for almost half an hour before the door was opened. Just about to speak, he choked in his throat.

Duan Min grabbed her by the neck with one hand.

You Xu jumped at his appearance, his condition was very bad, the veins in his forehead and neck were highlighted, his eyes were bloodshot, the area under his eyes were gray and black, and his usually red lips were now pale.

You Xu: So I'm finally going to be killed? I've lived for at least half a month with no regrets at all, and I don't even feel the need to leave a will.

The system alarm rang out: "He's sick. Run for your life!"

Can she escape? She felt that her neck was as fragile as noodles in his hand, and he could break it with one squeeze.

You Xu adjusted her breath and tried to control her emotions, and as if ahe was unaware of everything she smiled as she did a few days ago, "Stir-fried vegetables, with cabbages, carrots, cucumbers and fungus, are rich in color and more homely, but the taste is not bad. Would you like to try some?"

Duan Min's eyes shifted slightly, his lips tightened, his expression seemed like he was struggling, as if he were holding something back, his eyes became redder, and his jaw tightened obviously.

The situation was not good, You Xu closed her eyes and waited for the final conclusion.

After waiting for a while, the expected pain never came, and You Xu was about to open her eyes when the grip on her neck suddenly loosened.

Duan Min withdrew his hand, returned to his house and closed the door.

The air that suddenly entered her throat caused her to cough several times. She went back to her room, put the food on the table, leaned against the back of the chair and gasped as her chest heaved.

When You Xu got her strength back, she asked, "What on earth is going on with the way he acted just now?" There was no mention of his illness in the storyline!

"His body is an experiment, it’s unstable and prone to illness." The system implanted a memory video in her mind.

In an underground laboratory, there were thousands of the latest batch of human-like test-tube babies, one of which is numbered A12101, which means it is the 12,101 experiment.

It was Duan Min.

All the previous failures turned into blood, and only Duan Min survived.

The crazy and perverted eyes of those people settled on this test tube, and the morid laughter echoed in the enclosed space.

From this moment on, Duan Min was doomed to be unfortunate.

He grew into a baby, wore a breathing mask, and was soaked in all kinds of potions.

He became a child, and when his peers could run and jump, play with toys and act spoiled to their parents. He was imprisoned on the operating table, surrounded by instruments, tolerating people who used him as an experimental subject.

His genes were inherently complex and changeable, and all kinds of unknown potions and viruses weare injected into his body to change his physique.

The strange pathological changes made him miserable. He struggled, growled, wailed, and convulsed all over with red eyes, like a crawling monster.

Those people looked coldly at him in pain, recording data and judging whether he would survive or not, believing that he was going to be a failure several times, but he miraculously survived again and again.

Then came the repeated experiments.

Finally, the Zombie King's blood was injected into his body.

……..

Everyone has a different past, and Duan Min's past is a lingering life like a monster. He is only treated as a purposeful experiment.

Obviously, he has thoughts and perceptions and would be uncomfortable and in pain.

After reading it, You Xu was silent for a long time.

She was cold all over, and every drop of her blood felt frozen from head to toe.

The world was always like this. Where the sun rises the place where the sun shines always looks bright and bright on the surface with a thick layer of snow covering the gloom on the other side.

If there is a sunny side, it will always make people forget that on the back is a shadow.

It’s unbelievable and unbearable, if she were in Duan Min's position, She would not only have manipulated those people to commit suicide, she might have done something more out of line.

She would have made life worse than death, and would have retaliated thousands of times the pain she has endured.

Because of those experiences, Duan Min loathes people as he should, and killing all the people around him had their own reasons and consequences.

This is how Duan Min should be, but just now, when he was sick and grabbed her neck, he obviously tightened his arm muscles, but he didn't exert too much force on her, just like a warning, warning her not to come any closer.

You Xu ran to the bathroom and raised her neck in front of the mirror. Sure enough, there were only some light red marks.

After a pause, she held the sink in her hands, hung her head slightly, and sniffled gently. She felt a little complicated, and there was a kind of sour sympathy in her.

If at first she was just holding the mentality of being a playful spectator, this time she has been involved in it, so it is difficult to hold onto the feeling of being free.

No matter what her purpose is, she wants to be nice to Duan Min.

It is like seeing a puppy that is badly beaten and abandoned to the side of the road, resulting in uncontrollable compassion.

She kind of wanted to raise this dog more sincerely.

You Xu took a long breath, washed her face with cold water, and then went to the kitchen again.

She took out the strawberry jam she made a few days ago, as well as yogurt, skim milk powder, white vinegar, and eggs.

Add water, stir and boil, turn off the heat and cool until slightly solidified, put it into a small glass cup, pour a thick layer of strawberry jam on the milky white curd, and sprinkle on some chopped strawberries.

She especially put a piece of lemon on the edge of the cup as decoration, picked up the glass on a small porcelain plate, and walked out of the kitchen.

As she passed the living room, she picked up a pen and a post-it note from the coffee table, sketched on it twice, put the pen down, stuck it to the porcelain plate, picked it up and looked at it, satisfied.

You Xu took the dessert and only rang the doorbell of Duan Min's house twice. She put the things on the high stool by the door and went back to her room.

After a while, there was a crack in the dark door, and a cold, thin hand reached out and took away the plate of dessert.


	4. Chapter 4

IAPVH Chapter 4

Duan Min sat on the sofa in the living room with the dessert, stupefied for a while, then found out that he had opened the door again and somehow brought the food in.

Of course, what is more perplexing is that woman.

When she first moved here and rang the doorbell for the first time, Duan Min was dazed and suspected that he had heard wrong. His doorbell never rang.

But the bell stopped for a moment, and then it rang again, one after another, endlessly.

He manipulated the puppet as the landlord to negotiate with the residents who moved in. He once said that there were no people living on the seventh floor, but now a person moved to the seventh floor and lives next door to him.

It is not that he is afraid of noise, the sound insulation of the house is very good, but he hates the smell of the living, so he wants to make the woman who pressed the doorbell dead.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw the young woman religiously holding a box of gnawed egg tarts as if she were worshiping her ancestors.

She was shaking with fear, but she smiled sweetly.

Her almond eyes curved up, and her lips raised in an arc, forming into a shallow smile.

It looks harmless. Is it really harmless? Or did the group find a trail of him and find someone to test him?

After all, it was interesting, no matter what she came for since she was the first person to smile at him, he decided to let her live for a few more days.

It was only a few days.

A routine life, a day of routine will always be broken by a theorem that is called the unexpected.

The woman who was so frightened that night should have left immediately, or should not have appeared in front of him ever again, but she came again, carrying a plate of ribs, still smiling sweetly.

Duan Min thought this is the second time, if she dares to bother him the third time, no matter how she laughs, he will amputate her.

For the third time, she came again, even without fear in her eyes, and seemed accustomed to disturbing him.

He stared at her blankly, wondering when to do it. She only introduced the dishes on her own, from the ingredients to the steps of making, and the final taste, speaking slowly, softly, and in detail

She seems to have a natural love of laughter, even when she speaks, she will bring out a shallow arc of laughter.

Duan Min met such a stubborn and noisy person for the first time.

He could not understand why she could say so much, let alone why she could disturb him at seven o'clock every night, rain or shine.

Knowing that he would not eat, she put a high stool by the door and put the dishes on it.

His body has been transformed, and it's okay not to eat for ten and a half days. In fact, he hates eating, and the act of swallowing reminds him of the disgusting things he was forced to eat before.

But he listened patiently to her before closing the door.

Duan Min thought that maybe it was because the house was so quiet that he was always attracted by her voice and could not kill her for the time being, but if he got sick and killed her uncontrollably, there was nothing he could do.

He will get sick from time to time, which is uncontrollable and difficult to suppress, so everyone in this building has become a victim to it, and he simply turns them into puppets to control to reduce the need to go out.

Just now, he became ill again, all his consciousness turned into an impulse to kill, his blood surged up, his eyes became bloodshot, and he didn't want to hear the breath of living creatures.

There was a delicate and warm touch from under his hands, and the blood in his eyes faded a little bit. He saw her smile clearly, and he also found that he grabbed her by the neck and unconsciously pulled back his palms.

Because he thought that if she died, she would never smile like that again.

For some reason, he thought it was a bit of a pity.

With his last trace of reason, Duan Min let her go, thinking that she would be scared away by his appearance and never dared to come again.

Unexpectedly, she was so bold that she dared to deliver food when she saw him like that.

Is she not afraid of death, or is she not afraid of him?

Duan Min looked down at the dessert in his hand, which was divided into two layers, the top was red and the bottom was milky white.

It has a bright color and he could smell a hint of cream and sweet strawberries.

There was an orange post-it note on the porcelain plate, with no words, only a smiling face.

Duan Min was silent for a moment, and his expression seemed hesitant. finally, he picked up a small porcelain spoon, scooped a spoon of red jam, took a bite, and frowned immediately.

"Tut, sweet."

It's so sweet, it's so sweet.

He pursed his lips, put the dessert on the table, and pushed it away.

Duan Min straightened his lip unsatisfied, snorted softly, laid back on the pure black sofa, pulled a pillow in his arms, and turned his back.

After more than ten minutes, he licked the corner of his lips and turned, stared at the dessert on the other side of the table for a long time, threw away the pillow and sat up, leaned over, and reached out to bring it back.

He picked up the small porcelain spoon again, picked out the chopped strawberries on top and ate them, then picked up the red jam and scooped a spoonful of milky white jelly underneath.

"Sour."

Duan Min was not very happy and frowned again. Everything was warm and smooth, but it was too sour.

Tsk, what on earth is she doing?

He wanted to put the dessert back on the table, and in the middle of the action, he saw the smiling face on the orange post-it note. After pausing for a long time, Duan Min picked up a spoon and dipped the next layer of jam and cream combined.

The taste becomes sour and sweet when mixed.

His brow was still frowning, but he kept on eating one spoonful after another.

Putting down the empty cup, Duan Min laid back on the sofa, lying on his side holding a pillow, his was mouth full of the sweet and sour taste.

From his mouth to his throat, there is a feeling of being warm for the first time.

Maybe it was because of the jam that his pale lips became a little more blood red after the onset of the disease.

\--

The next day, You Xu opened the door and saw the porcelain plate and empty cup on the high stool.

"Ding" rang in her mind, and the system said, "Congratulations to the host. The current trust value of the villain is 5."

You Xu hummed, picked up the porcelain plate and empty cup, and went back to wash them.

From that day on, Duan Min would eat all the dishes served in the evening, but there was no other progress. After more than a month, the system finally couldn't help urging: "Host, don't you think the progress bar is too slow? why don't you take some other action?"

You Xu said leisurely: "You have to believe in science."

The system was puzzled: "What science?"

You Xu who understands that the stickman might not have much common sense, so she seriously explained: "A person can develop a habit in 21 days, do you understand?"

"." The system panicked a little, "So you deliver food every day because you've formed a habit?"

You Xu: It's difficult to communicate, it's on s child's level, and I'm on an adult’s level.

\--.

One of the most subtle changes was his habits.

Duan Min, who initially said that he’d only let You Xu live for a few days, had let her walk around safely for almost two months.

He had a terrible habit, when the evening horizon fades into the dark night, when it approachs seven o'clock in the evening, he can't help being irritated, his mood seems to be hooked by something, and then he can't do anything.

The brain automatically guessed what dishes she would bring today, what she would say, and how she would laugh.

The slight expectation arose in his heart, faintly, but there was an unusual sense of existence.

Such a habit is like a rising sea flooding the land, slowly and unnoticed, and when he is aware of it, he finds that he has no place to stay and does not know how to struggle.

Duan Min looked up and saw the time display screen in the middle of the living room-19:00.

The time was up, he walked to the door, walked to the hallway, and waited quietly, and when the doorbell rings, he will open the door again.

A few minutes later, the doorbell was as silent as he was.

This door is made of special material and he doesn’t have a cat's eyes. Apart from opening the door, it’s impossible to see anyone outside the door at all.

Duan Min squeezed the doorknob, frowned impatiently, and waited for another three minutes.

He turned back to the living room and saw the screen at 07:10 and she was late.

Has she forgotten or does she not want to give it away?

People are so fickle.

Duan Min tightly pursed his lips, lay back on the sofa with drooping eyelids, and closed his eyes.

By the time he opened his eyes again, it was already 07:30.

She hasn't come yet.

Duan Min sat up propped up, a strange and mysterious emotion made him feel at a loss for a moment, followed by irritability.

Duan Min got up again and paced the living room, with every step he got even more impatient, he couldn’t stop pacing until 08:00.

This mysterious emotion made him so dissatisfied that he wanted to cut off the source.

She can no longer live, but he can turn her into a puppet with the longest shelf life.

With a heavy face, Duan Min went to the porch and opened the door.

Looking out, it's good, it's empty.

Duan Min raised his eyelids, the corners of his lips drooped, and his jaw folded slightly, and with obvious thinly veiled anger, he pressed the doorbell of You Xu’s apartment.

The doorbell kept ringing, but no one answered the door.

Duan Min's patience had completely run out, replaced by a fire three feet high in the wind, and he summoned the puppet downstairs to come up and smash the door.

Just then, the door was opened.

Duan Min had a bad expression and was about to speak when he found that You Xu’s face was even more ugly. Her face was pale and her lips were colorless, but her cheeks were strangely flushed and there was a fine sweat on her forehead.

She put her hands on the door frame and said weakly, "Oh, there you are."

Duan Min twisted his eyebrow and said, "This is--"

Before he finished speaking, the woman suddenly leaned forward and plunged into his arms.

A soft, warm body nestled in his arms.

He became stiff all over.


	5. Chapter 5

Duan Min froze in place for a long time, his expression stunned.

The people who had touched him before were no longer in this world. She touched him and fell into his arms... motionless?

Duan Min's eyes narrowed slightly, he raised his hand and grabbed the back of her neck, which is one of the most vulnerable parts of a person and his hands felt warmth and delicateness underneath.

As long as he exerts force, this person will die.

Just then, footsteps echoed in the corridor approaching him, and the two puppets summoned knelt before him.

Duan Min stayed silent for two seconds, holding her waist with one hand and moving the other hand from her neck to her forehead. The temperature in the palm of his hand was a little high.

Duan Min lowered his eyes and looked at her face, her face was flushed and her lips were pale.

He gave orders to the puppets: "You take her inside, you get a doctor."

The two puppets carried out their own instructions respectively, and Duan Min went back to his room. He didn't want to get in touch with the doctor he would bring later. It was enough to leave the two puppets to take care of her.

When he got back to the living room, he remembered that he’d wanted her dead. What happened? He even specially asked for someone to save her.

Confused and irritated, the mysterious messy emotions hit him again. Duan Min chuckled and walked into a laboratory. Inside there was a huge experimental platform with all kinds of cold instruments, and behind the platform was a white experiment bed.

Duan Min walked to the experimental platform, opened a drawer, took out disposable black gloves, put them on, and then randomly selected a limb to remove stitches from.

His eyes were slightly cold as if only these silver cold instruments could calm him down.

Three hours later, he walked out of the lab, took off his gloves, threw them into the trash can, and walked all the way back to his living room.

He stood there for a while, suddenly not knowing what he was going to do next, then he opened his door and walked to You Xu's door.

Duan Min raised his hand, pointed to the door, and said in a low voice, "Open the door."

The next moment, the door was opened and the puppet knelt by it.

Duan Min walked in and saw that her room was dominated by beige warm tones, with floral arrangments everywhere, and the yellow lights gave off a warm feeling.

He is a little uncomfortable in such an environment, like a bat that has been hiding in a dark cave being placed in the sun and having nowhere to escape.

The puppet told him that she was diagnosed with fever, and the doctor gave her a needle and medicine before leaving. 

Duan Min nodded and motioned for them to leave too.

You Xu didn’t know for how long she’d slept, feeling extremely drowsy, she opened her eyes with difficulty and saw Duan Min standing by her bed.

Duan Min lowered his eyes and stared at her with an unfriendly expression, and then saw her pull the quilt down, revealing her chin. She blinked and said in a low voice, "Thank you."

Duan Min was taken aback for a moment, his expression was a little surprised, as if he had never been thanked by anyone, and was extremely uncomfortable.

He looked away and gave an indifferent hum, and as soon as he turned to leave, he felt the slight pull of the hem of his sweater.

Duan Min turned to his side and looked down. A thin white hand and his black sweater formed a visual color difference of black and white contrast.

As he looked down again, her eyes sparkled and she asked, "would you like dinner?"

Without waiting for Duan Min to answer, Yu Xu had lifted the quilt and climbed out of bed, and when her feet touched the ground and she straightened up, her weak body shook slightly.

She hurriedly supported the bedside table next to her to stabilize herself but did not notice Duan Min's half-stretched hand.

Duan Min silently stopped and asked, "Why are you suddenly sick?"

According to her observation of Duan Min during this period of time, she found that he was like a god who had nothing to do with mortals. He paid no attention to anything that had nothing to do with him, and it seemed like a fantasy to hear him say one more word.

She was a little surprised when he asked about her now.

As she walked to the kitchen, You Xu said, "I've been like this since I was a child. I suddenly have a fever in the middle of the night, but I got better when I grew up, and it happens less often now."

She was like this originally, but she never thought that she would still be like this when crossing over. Last night she suddenly had a fever, swallowed two pills of anti-fever medicine, fell asleep in a daze, and heard the constant doorbell ringing before she got up weakly and opened the door.

She didn't expect that Duan Min would send her a doctor and stay with her until midnight, so it was right to invite him to have dinner.

You Xu came to the kitchen, first adding water to the pot, then she opened the refrigerator and took out a box of dumplings wrapped in plastic wrap. These are the three fresh dumplings she made yesterday afternoon. She wanted to save them for today, and now it's going to be dinner.

The main reason is that she feels very tired now and doesn't want to go through too much trouble, so she has to chew dumplings with him, and then make delicious food to compensate him in the future.

Without saying a word, Duan Min leaned against the door frame and looked in.

When the water boiled, the heat rose. The woman in the white cotton nightdress, her hair in the shawl was slightly disheveled. She lowered her gaze and focused on putting the dumplings in her hand into the pot one by one. The white water vapor softened her eyebrows and eyes.

Duan Min did not know why he was watching here. He just felt that he did not resent staying like this or the smell of people.

This picture is beautiful, what if it was created deliberately by people?

Yu Xu was in no mood to pay attention to the conflicted eyes behind her. She was really starving. She had not eaten all day, and now her stomach was empty with nothing but bitter water. Knowing that Duan Min was standing behind and watching, she only thought that he had not eaten dinner and waited for midnight snacks. So she accelerated the movements of her hands.

After a few minutes, the water boiled again and the dumplings floated, You Xu turned to go to the cupboard to get a bowl for the dumplings, who knew Duan Min suddenly came close.

His cold breath was overwhelming, You Xu subconsciously shrank back, Duan Min kept approaching, with a sense of pressure, You Xu took a few steps back, leaning back against the cooking table, he bowed his head and looked her in the eyes.

You Xu watched his approach quietly, and he didn't stop until she could see herself clearly in his eyes.

Duan Min slightly opened his mouth and spoke out a slurred sentence. The last word fell and he snapped his fingers, and You Xu's eyes became dark and lost.

He said coldly, "What's your purpose of getting close to me?"

In addition to his extraordinary intelligence and sharpness, another reason why it is difficult for others to approach and trust him is that he can seduce people's minds and manipulate others to say what they think.

Anyone will become transparent in front of him, and it is best to have no thoughts from head to toe.

You Xu obediently opened her mouth and replied, "you are good looking."

Duan Min paused, his expression was full of disbelief, and he hesitantly repeated: "good looking?"

"Yes," said You Xu mechanically, "you are the most handsome person I have ever seen."

Duan Min was silent for a long time, his eyes were more complicated, ten thousand answers whizzed past in his mind, but he never thought it would be this kind of an answer.

He has confidence in his manipulation and doesn’t make mistakes, so is there really a kind of person in the world who is nice to others because they are good-looking?

Duan Min's feelings were extremely mixed, at least shows that she has no unbearable purpose, but what if she meets better-looking people in the future?

Forget it. Her business is none of his business.

Duan Min took two steps back and snapped his fingers again.

In an instant, You Xu's eyes lit up, she touched her head, and was slightly confused and said, "Hey? What was I doing? "

"Serving dumplings." When Duan Min dropped the words, he went to the living room.

You Xu turned around, sighed happily, took two big bowls out of the cupboard and asked in her mind, "Why can't he manipulate me?"

The system explained leisurely: "Your body belongs to this world, but your consciousness does not, so he can control your body, but not your consciousness. Your body will follow his instructions and answer, but it's up to your consciousness to decide what to answer."

So this BUG (loophole), You Xu wanted to directly say that she was here to kill him, how terrifying, how bloody, how terrible.

You Xu carrying two large bowls of steaming dumplings, came to the table and put them down, then straightened up and opened the window.

When she came back and sat opposite Duan Min, she curled her lips and said with a smile, "There are three fresh dumplings with pork, cabbage, fungus, and shrimp skin. I don't know if you have any food allergies. If you don't want to eat them, I'll cook noodles for you instead."

The cool evening breeze blew through the window, the fragrance of jasmine entered slowly along with the wind, and the room lamp was orange, giving her pretty face a halo of warmth.

Hearing her soft voice, there were simple dumplings in front of him, only decorated with green onion, but he did not know how, somewhere in his heart collapsed, and he felt a real warmth.

There's a word to describe it, life.

It seems to describe the days with a little bit of the human spirit.

There was no cold equipment, no darkroom, nor the stillness of a graveyard, but it could calm and even swell his heart.

Duan Min's long eyelashes were covered and he slowly said softly, "This."

"Very good." He said.

"Ding," the system voice sounded, "Congratulations to the host, the villain trust value has increased to 30, please keep up your efforts!"

end.


	6. Chapter 6

IAPVH Chapter 6

After successfully feeding him dumplings, Duan Min and You Xu reached a delicate balance.

Duan Min opened his door at seven o'clock every night and took the initiative to take the food from You Xu. When Tou Xu opened the door the next day, she would see an empty plate on the high stool in the corridor.

He was also a big shot who knows about the CD operation.

(T/N: I think The CD operation means to take leftovers after eating.)

When You Xu was cooking she’d open the doors and windows, the aroma of the food could arouse people's taste buds, as long as Duan Min slightly opened his doors and windows he’d be able to smell the fragrance of her food. She did this intentionally.

At noon one day, You Xu took out a plate of egg fried rice from the kitchen and saw Duan Min sitting lazily on her sofa, holding a pillow in his hands, his head was drooping and his chin rested against the pillow.

He looked a little sleepy.

You Xu was a little surprised to see him appear at this time. From the first time she saw him, she found that he had red lips and white skin. if you added two fangs, He would look more like a medieval European vampire.

She subconsciously regarded Duan Min as a nocturnal species. Of course, the boss really has no concept of health preservation. He sleeps very late and gets up at noon.

Duan Min heard her movements and he asked, "What are you going to eat?" His voice was hoarse when he first woke up.

The floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room were open, and the warm and bright sun came in at noon, making his skin look whiter and thinner, his eyelids drooping and his eyelids covered with fine eyelashes, leaving a small shadow on the bottom of his eyes.

You Xu put the plate on the table, "Egg fried rice, do you want to eat?"

"mm-hmm." He answered, then removed the pillow, bent his legs, and stood up lazily.

You Xu went to the kitchen and brought out a large bowl of winter melon soup and gave him a pair of chopsticks.

She did not expect that Duan Min would come for lunch today, so lunch was relatively simple and the quantity was not much.

Duan Min sat down and ate quietly.

You Xu glanced at him, saw that his expression was relaxed and that he looked satisfied, and began to eat with him.

She didn't have the habit of eating and talking. Duan Min has the habit of not talking directly, so although their first lunch at the same table was quiet, the atmosphere was unusually harmonious.

Duan Min finished eating first, put down the bowls and chopsticks, he didn’t immediately go back to his own home, but instead returned to You Xu's sofa and laid down directly on it, half-squinting, as if he intended to make up for his lost sleep.

As a health leader in the 21st century, You Xu really wanted to speak up. Don't lie down and after you eat as soon as you are full. It is not good for your stomach.

When you have enough to eat and drink, you will be sleepy. You don't want to talk or move. It's as if all your strength was being used for digestion, your brain is heavy, your body is weak, and you just want to take a nap.

Generally, she would go to the sofa to sit for a while when she was full, and she would become sleepy, but now the dove occupies the magpie's nest, and her sofa nest was occupied by Duan Min's long legs.

You Xu walked over and saw that Duan Min was lying on the two-meter-long sofa, leaving her with no room to sit. She decided to use body language and bumped his calf with her knee signaling him to move over.

But the boss remained motionless, and without even raising his eyelids to look at her, he was not afraid that she would sit down and crush the bones of his knee.

You Xu bumped his calf with her knee again and found out that he’d fallen asleep. she glanced at him disgruntled and then planned to sit down in the chair. She heard a light chuckle before she turned around.

Duan Min opened his eyes, sat up with his hands propped up, his long legs bent, his back leaned on the sofa, his shoulders trembled, his chest was heaving up and down, as he laughed incessantly.

You Xu looked at him unknowingly, she thought her knee had poked the switch of his laughing button.

He laughed right at her expressionless face.

She really didn’t understand what he was laughing at.

But he did have a good smile, his eyebrows stretched out, his narrow eyes curved up, and his cold temperament softened several degrees, like a warm sun melting a glacier.

Duan Min made way for You Xu to sit on the sofa, he sat up cross-legged and breathed heavily while he leaned against the sofa.

Duan Min glanced at her, then glanced at the table, then slowly got up to clean up, and then went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

You Xu raised her eyebrows curiously, followed behind him, and sneaked outside the kitchen door to peek inside. Duan Min put the bowls and chopsticks into the sink, his side face was neat and smooth, his eyelashes were slightly lowered, his expression loose yet focused.

His hair was not pure black, and the light falling on the top of his hair made his hair lighter so that it appeared light brown.

It seemed to be the first time that Duan Min washed the dishes. Duan Min's hands were clumsy and slow. After squeezing the detergent, he paused before picking up the dishcloth. The dishes in his hands were slippery like a bar of soap, and several times they slipped out, but he quickly grabbed them before they were about to hit the ground.

After washing for a while, he accidentally knocked a corner off of some dishes.

He stared at the small gap dissatisfiedly, frowned slightly, and You Xu wanted to smile.

He was a living person, and the scene in front of her reminded her of that once again.

The system discovered her psychological activity and could not help coming out to remind her: "Host, thinking too much will only affect your completion of the task, you just need to know that you have to complete the task."

"What are the benefits of accomplishing the task?" You Xu asked.

The system said, "Resurrection, of course. Don't you want to go back to your original world?"

Of course, the original world has her parents, her sister, friends, colleagues, and a familiar environment, but as a reward for her to complete the tasks of the world, isn’t it like clearing a video game?

You Xu lowered her eyes and walked to the living room without responding to the system.

When Duan Min finished washing dishes, but as he picked them up and wanted to put them in the cupboard, he paused. If it was him before, he would feel that washing dishes is meaningless, but now he is a little confused. What exactly is a meaningful thing?

He lowered his eyes, and the smooth,mirror-like bowl reflected the vagueness in his face.

What's different? when did it start to be different?

Duan Min walked out of the kitchen, glanced around, and didn't see You Xu. He walked around the table in the middle of the living room and saw her falling asleep on the sofa.

She was still wearing a white cotton nightdress, the skirt was rubbed up a bit, covering the base of her thighs, her white and slender legs were overlapped, and her toes were white and round.

Her hair spread on the beige sofa, her lips curled slightly, and her expression looked like a lazy cat full of food.

A warm wind blew from the balcony, bringing a faint scent of jasmine.

His eyes were fixed.

\---

You Xu woke up in a daze, she sat up slowly and yawned, her eyes were glossed over with a thin layer of water vapor, and she lowered her eyes noticing the blanket she was covered with. He looked to her side and unexpectedly saw Duan Min's back.

He had not left but he was leaning against the window, looking at the windowsill.

In the evening, the clouds on the horizon were smudged into a large orange-red, and the light fell on him, making him filter-like, with a warm glow.

You Xu walked over barefoot and found him looking at the jasmine on the windowsill.

When she first came here, seeing that the window sills were very large, she had the idea of growing flowers, thought about bringing large and small colorful potted plants back to plant them. In the end, only small and inconspicuous jasmine flowers were planted. In that case, she simply planted all the small white flowers.

Duan Min looked to his side to see that her hair was slightly messy when she had just fallen asleep, so he subconsciously raised his hand to help her.

Ignoring his movements, she looked down and searching throughout the jasmine flowers, picked out a pot, and handed it to him, that was the first pot she had to feed.

Duan Min picked the tip of his eyebrow and said, "You’re giving it to me?"

You Xu nodded, she didn’t expect a pot of flowers to edify the boss's sentiment, but living things can always bring people a little life. She still remembered that when she first met Duan Min, his eyes were empty and dead.

"Why?" He asked.

You Xu: seeing that you take it so seriously, I thought you’d like it.

She smiled and said: "The flower language of a jasmine means pure friendship, I thought you’d like it, so this is the way to express our friendship, if you don't like it, forget it."

Duan Min reached out and took it, held it carefully, the corners of his lips curled slightly, and said in a low voice, "You gave it to me."

\---

That night, Duan Min realized how much trouble he had carried back.

He didn't know how to grow flowers at all and had no experience in that aspect.

He can precisely disassemble any person and sew it back together again, and he can also manipulate all kinds of people, but he just doesn't know how to grow flowers, and he didn't have the slightest clue in his mind.

Holding the pot of flowers, he sat on his sofa, lost in deep contemplation and anxiety.

It's too delicate, its petals are soft, and it couldn’t withstand any bumps. Why should this kind of thing that grows on the roadside and decays at will be carefully cultivated?

Tsk, it also symbolizes friendship. What if it dies.

For the first time in 25 years of Duan Min's life, it was because of a pot of white flowers that he had felt distressed.

He was silent for a moment and summoned a puppet downstairs. The puppet knelt outside the door, waiting for further instructions.

Duan Min walked to the door with the flowerpot in his arms, handed it over, and said, "Raise it well, do not overfeed it to death."

The puppet raised his hands obediently, and just as his fingers touched the flowerpot, Duan Min retracted it again and took a step back, "Go back."

The puppet got up and left when it was instructed to.

Duan Min closed the door, helplessly took the flowers back to the living room, sat back on the sofa, and said to himself, "I want to raise it by myself."

He didn't believe that he couldn't raise a pot of flowers well.

Duan Min took out his mobile phone and began to look for ways to grow jasmine flowers, watering them in the morning and evening in summer and once a week in winter, requiring light, fertilization, pruning and loosening the soil, and so on.

It looks troublesome.

Duan Min frowned, looked at it unhappily, and sighed helplessly.

This night, someone stayed up all night, searching and sorting out the most detailed strategy for growing flowers.

And You Xu, who didn't know how many potted flowers she had raised, fell asleep peacefully.

The author has something to say: Duan Min: this friendship is so difficult to maintain.

ATTENTION: If you’re a translator and you’d like to help me translate this novel, then I’d be very open to it as long as you can keep a consistent schedule. Please email me at Lazypandatranslations@gmail.com if you’re interested or message me on discord (Lazypanda#1781)


	7. Chapter 7

IAPVH Chapter 7

You Xu suddenly wanted to eat spicy food, so she went to the supermarket to buy a bunch of red chili peppers, green chili peppers, and all kinds of chili sauces.

A pot of hot spicy chicken was fried in the evening, and the spicy smell made people salivate while choking on their own tears.

As a non-spicy eater, You Xu discovered that the boss turned out to have a sweet tooth. She decided to lead him to open up a new path and taste new delicacies.

It may be because Duan Min’s trust value had increased day by day, and in response, her fear had decreased day by day, but she has gained a lot of courage, and she is too lazy to bother to cook a special dish for him, she justs cook more and gives him a plate from the pot.

She has been unable to define Duan Min's relationship with her, the landlord and next-door neighbor, the boss, and the task assignee, and now a meal companion who sticks around.

What a complex and fragile relationship.

You Xu took the plate of spicy chicken, went out and handed it to Duan Min, and then returned to her dining table to sit down for dinner. She felt a little strange since they ate together at noon, why not eat together at night? Did he really develop such a habit, or does he have a sense of ritual?

However, day by day, the trust value had steadily increased to 50.

\--.

The next day as it got closer to noon, You Xu was ready to cook, and as usual, opened the door.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw the man standing outside the door. Duan Min was holding a clean plate in both hands. The corners of his eyes and the tip of his nose were red. He looked down at her.

He seems to be a little obedient for no reason.

You Xu thought of the big dog she used to keep. Every time it was time for dinner, he would ask for something to eat with his own dog bowl in his mouth.

You Xu held back a smile and beckoned him, "Come on in."

Duan Min put the dishes washed by his hands into the cupboard. His slightly arched body was ready to straighten up when a soft and warm hand rubbed the top of his hair. He tilted his head slightly and saw her blink and laugh lightly. "Thank you," she said softly.

She was so close that he could even smell the faint scent of jasmine on her.

Duan Min paused, but before he could respond, she had withdrawn her hand and stepped away. He pressed down a little bit of loss in his heart and looked away without changing his face: "What are you going to eat for lunch?"

You Xu held back a smile and pretended that she did not touch his head like he was a big dog.

She already knew that Duan Min noticed her habit of cooking but not wanting to wash the dishes, so now he would take the initiative to wash the dishes and he washed them very skillfully.

You Xu opened the refrigerator, looked at the ingredients inside, and said, "We can have crispy pepper fish, chicken wings with coke, or fried large intestine with sour sauce for lunch."

As if she suddenly remembered something, she turned to him and asked him, "How was the spicy chicken last night?"

She added too many chili peppers last night because she thought she could eat spicy food, but she didn't chew for too long before she burst into tears because she wasn’t used to it. She didn’t know if Duan Min could eat it.

"It was hot," he said with drooping eyelashes and a soft voice, "but I finished it."

You Xu was stunned and unconsciously thought of a picture of Duan Min eating a piece of spicy chicken. The spicy taste of the chicken made him close his eyes and clench his teeth. He drank two mouthfuls of water, endured the spiciness, and then continued to eat until the food was finished, and his eyes and nose turned red.

The picture made her heart soften.

Duan Min looked up at her and said nothing.

You Xu read the two words in his unwavering eyes----want compensation.

"what do you want?" She asked politely.

Duan Min said without thinking: "Red sauce, sweet."

You Xu remembered the dessert plate she made for him the last time. The top layer was strawberry jam, which she had made by herself, sealing it in glass jars, and there were five jars.

You Xu opened the compartment under the cupboard and take out a jar of bright red strawberry jam. "Are you going to eat it by itself?"

As soon as she turned around, she saw that Duan Min had picked up a small spoon, she paused and handed him the strawberry jam wordlessly.

The strawberry jam was marinated in rock sugar thus it is very sweet. She seldom eats it by itself and only uses it for decoration or seasoning. She wanted to give Duan Min a few mouthfuls, but he ate half a jar at once.

You Xu had to snatch the remaining half a jar of strawberry jam from his hand and knock on the edge of the pot with a spatula. "Are you still going to have lunch?" She felt like a mother who worried about her kids eating snacks before dinner and then not having enough room to eat dinner later.

"Eat." His eyes were still fixed on strawberry jam without blinking.

You Xu ignored him, put the strawberry jam far away, and then continue to cook.

After lunch, You Xu sat on the sofa as usual to eat. Duan Min consciously took back strawberry jam, opened the jar, and continued to eat.

His thin eyelashes were slightly covered, glass jars in one hand and a small porcelain spoon in the other, sitting cross-legged on the floor, nibbling, looking quiet and obedient.

He is like a big boy who is pure and cute and who loves to eat sweets, not at all like the strange and crazy man in the future.

You Xu couldn't help looking at him a few more times, but finally, she couldn't resist the drowsiness and fell asleep.

When she woke up, she saw Duan Min licking the corners of his lips and he was opening another jar of strawberry jam. There were four empty glass jars beside his legs.

You Xu: "."

Are you really not afraid of diabetes?

\--

After taking over the chore of dishwashing, Duan Min developed the advanced idea of using labor in exchange for a reward, so he asked for extra meals.

You Xu graciously agreed, but she didn't expect that Duan Min didn’t mean to increase each meal, but to increase midnight snacks.

When the sky was dark and the wind was high, in the dead of night, Duan Min appeared in front of You Xu's house, followed by a burst of alarm bells.

"..." You Xu grabbed a handful of hair, stuck her head into the quilt, covered her ears, and greeted Duan Min's ancestors countless times in her heart-if he had any.

The system, at this moment, was like an alarm called by Duan Min: "Don't go to bed, go to raise the trust value!"

You Xu sat up with a headache, rubbed her face, reluctantly got out of bed and opened the door.

Duan Min raised his eyebrows and said, "You’re so slow."

You Xu snorted, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, and thought about what an incredible upbringing she had that she did not beat him for disturbing her dreams in the middle of the night.

Duan Min sat down at the dining table and waited for her. When he got a bucket of instant noodles on the third night, he was very dissatisfied: "I don’t want this."

You Xu also gave up and wanted to resign: "Then order takeout."

Seeing the "You’re so annoying, I really want to sleep, why don't you go away quickly" expression on her face, Duan Min frowned and said coldly, "No."

You Xu, who was sleep-deprived, was so irritable that she wanted to press his head on the table and make him swallow the instant noodles, but she resisted the impulse and suppressed her temper. “If you can’t eat it then leave."

Duan Min's stare was condemning: "You promised an extra meal."

"Midnight snacks are not extra meals, why do you want an increase of meals at this time?" You Xu said breaking down a little bit.

She took a deep breath and sighed for a long time. Then she leaned down towards Duan Min while gripping the edge of the table with both hands. She softly said, "Can we do it a different way?"

The title ‘We’ stunned Duan Min for a moment. From the moment he was born, his world was only divided between you and me, with only enemies and no friends.

This was the first time someone said to him that we were two people together.

Obviously, he hates being involved or connected with people, but at this moment he unexpectedly didn't hate this title.

"Is that all right?" she asked again.

Duan Min came back to his senses, only to realize that the distance between them was a little close. Although there was a dining table in the middle, You Xu leaned over and approached him.

A sweet smell lingered in his nose, like the apple pie she made for him the day before yesterday with the taste of sweet milk.

In the quiet night, the space between the two people was magnified to making his sensory perception a little sensitive, and this kind of taste brung temptation in the seemingly quiet night.

She wore a white nightdress with spaghetti straps, revealing a delicate neck and a delicate collarbone, and the dim light added a hazy softness to her skin.

Duan Min unconsciously followed her words and asked: "In what way?"

"Let's not add midnight snacks," You Xu said with a smile. "How about breakfast at eight in the morning?"

Duan Min pursed his lips, not agreeing: "No, I can't get up in the morning."

You Xu suggested: "I'll call you."

Duan Min took a firm stand: "Don't."

You Xu was tired of bending over the edge of the table. She simply bent her hands forward and pressed the table with her arms. She laid half on the table, raised her head and looked up at him, and said, "Do you remember the last time I was sick?"

Duan Min nodded slightly and looked down. Her thin hair was loose, and the straps on her shoulders were tied into two bows, which looked light and playful.

You Xu continued: "My physique is so bad that I get sick easily. I have to go to bed early and wake up early."

She didn’t notice that her movements on the table made the low-collared fabric droop a little, revealing a round, soft and beautiful curve.

You Xu blinked her apricot eyes and coaxed him in a soft voice: "So shall we have breakfast together?"

Duan Min's eyes darkened as he subtly looked away, and said hoarsely---

"Whatever you say."

ATTENTION: If you’re a translator and you’d like to help me translate this novel, then I’d be very open to it as long as you can keep a consistent schedule. Please email me at  [ Lazypandatranslations@gmail.com ](mailto:Lazypandatranslations@gmail.com) if you’re interested or message me on discord (Lazypanda#1781)


	8. Chapter 8.1

IAPVH Chapter 8.1

You Xu suddenly became interested in running, so she woke up early the next day and began to run in the morning.

Duan Min's building has only seven stories and covers a large area. The road has been widened around. Running around it is no different from running around a track and field, and there were few people and cars, so she runs around this piece of land.

Before she had reached one kilometer, she was out of breath, stopping at three kilometers, and then she walked upstairs to rest.

(T/N: 1 kilometer is 0.621371 miles.)

When You Xu boarded the seventh floor and saw the people in the corridor, she panted, moved over, and said to Duan Min, "Good morning. Do you feel the beautiful air and sunshine in the morning?"

She also said that she would come back after running and wake him up for breakfast.

Still can't talk about it, huh, man.

Duan Min put his hands in the pockets of his sweater, leaning lazily against the wall, looking down at her with her hands on her knees, bent over and panting.

She wore an orange tracksuit and looked warm like a little sun. her high ponytail was scattered by exercise and looked fluffy in the morning light.

She was too alive, as fresh as the rising sun, she broke into his stagnant life with a strong vitality.

He never likes to delve into or think about anything. On one hand, he is lazy, and on the other hand, there is really nothing worth thinking about.

He couldn't remember human faces before, and he always felt that those faces were vague and unreal, and they didn’t leave any impression on him at all.

But You Xu was different. At first, he saw that her face was blurred, and he only remembered that she could laugh and be very noisy, but slowly, her face gradually became clear, like a person standing up from the paper into a three-dimensional person.

When did it start?

He didn't know.

\---

You Xu was sweaty all over so she simply took a shower, changed into loose clothes, and began to make breakfast.

In the morning, she didn't like greasy food, so she boiled Millet Congee, made a few slices of toast, fried two eggs, and had breakfast with the boss.

(T/N: Congee is a type of porridge.)

Duan Min had enough to eat and drink, washed the dishes, and went back to his room to get some sleep.

You Xu was lying on the sofa, looking at a small fish-shaped wind chime hanging outside the window sill, thinking that there is nothing to do today, so it would be better to go to the flower and bird market to buy two goldfish and raise them.

Just at this time, the prompt of a text message sounded.

You Xu picked up her phone and opened it and saw a message with a note for Brother Zhao Yiyan: "Next Saturday is Lan Lan's birthday, and there will be a celebration banquet. Would you like to come?"].

You Xu paused and searched her mind for relevant information. when she was in college, she had a brother Zhao Yiyan who took good care of her, and Zhao Yiyan and Lin Lanlan were classmates, so it seemed that they had a good relationship.

Reminiscent of Lin Lanlan's attack on You's family in the later period, which killed You Qi, in order to prevent the plot from going forward, You Xu had to meet Lin Lanlan, a key plot point.

You Xu typed back: "Thank you for inviting me. Of course I want to go." ].

There was a quick reply: [Are you free today? We haven't seen each other for a long time, so why don't we catch up?].

You Xu though about itt for a while and typed the next word: [Okay.】

Zhao Yiyan immediately sent the location of a restaurant and agreed with You Xu to meet up at noon.

After reading it, You Xu casually threw her phone on the sofa, narrowed her eyes, and rubbed her hands. It seems that she has something to do today and can't pick out a fish.

She put on a little makeup, tidied up, and went out the door.

The appointed place was a very high-end western restaurant, and Zhao Yiyan was already waiting by the time she arrived. He was dressed in a well-tailored dark blue suit, and his forehead was styled behind, revealing a smooth forehead, looking mature and stable.

You Xu walked over and smiled politely: "Brother, long time no see."

Zhao Yiyan also smiled: "Long time no see, Xiao Xu is beautiful again."

(T/N: Xiao is an endearing term to call someone younger that you.)

After a few polite pleasantries, the two sat down to order.

The food was served quickly, and the waiter poured them red wine. Zhao Yiyan raised his glass and said, "Come on, Xiao Xu, let’s have a toast."

You Xu clinked glasses with him, sipped two times, and continued to gossip: "Brother Shi is doing his own career now. He is really young and promising. He was admired when he was in college."

"I'm just doing a little business now," Zhao Yiyan said. "Xiao Xu was much more famous than my elder brother at that time. He won all the awards without blinking an eye. He was beautiful and temperamental, and he had so many suitors that he could line them up from the teaching building to the cafeteria."

"If he had nothing at least Senior Brother took all the girls' hearts."

....

In the second half of the chat, from recalling their college days to their present working life, both of them let go of their wariness that they had not seen for a long time.

Seeing that the atmosphere was just right, she pinched the wine glass, gently shook the liquid inside, and said casually, "I don't know what to give for classmate's birthday next week."

Zhao Yiyan raised his eyes: "Give it as you like. It's just for fun."

To tell you the truth, he did not expect that You Xu would really say yes. ever since he knew her, he had found her cold, solitary, not very lively or sociable, especially among the many girls he knew.

In college, he chased her for a long time, but she didn't even blink her eyelids.

Now she has changed quite a lot. She loves to laugh, and she has indeed become more beautiful. She wears light makeup, a light blue floral skirt, long hair shawl, with slightly curled ends.

She had a kind of indescribable quiet temperament, which was very comfortable and made one's eyes not want to look away.

"Is she easy to get along with?" You Xu worried, "I'm stupid and I can't talk very well."

At this point, Zhao Yiyan knew clearly in his heart that it was no wonder that You Xu agreed to his dinner invitation today, she just wanted him to help her match with people, but he didn't mind, fishing for favor from people, and then finally snatching them in is the best.

Zhao Yiyan leaned forward with his chin in one hand, raised his eyebrows, and said with a smile, "I'm here, don't be afraid."

When smart people talk, they don't have to be thorough. They naturally understood each other.

Now that the goal has been achieved, You Xu chatted for a while, then said goodbye and went home, and insisted on the AA system. Zhao Yiyan said nothing and agreed.

(T/N: The AA system means to split the bill evenly between two parties after a meal out.)

When she stood up with her bag, she deliberately scanned around the restaurant, feeling vaguely that someone was watching her, not within line of sight, but just now she glanced over she didn't see anything unusual.

When You Xu came back by taxi, she first went to the nearby supermarket to buy some ingredients and fruits, and carried them back in large and small bags.

When she went up to the seventh floor, she saw Duan Min leaning impassively on her doorstep.

You Xu went over and explained, "I've been out of the house today, so I'm a little late now."

Although Duan Min would not starve to death later, he was habitually waiting at the door, while she had already eaten out. She felt a little guilty.

Duan Min looked down at her and said in a faint voice, "What were you doing?"

You Xu casually handed him the bags in her hands, then she went through her bag and pulled out the key: "I went to see a college friend."

Duan Min took the things in her hand, and his tone was not very good, but he was sure: "A man."

"Yes, he’s my elder brother." You Xu opened the door, turned around and reached out to pick up the things. Duan Min didn't let it go, and silently carried the things in and putting them on the table.

It was more than two o'clock in the afternoon, and she didn't know for how long he had been waiting outside the door. She had intended to come back early, but Zhao Yiyan deliberately kept her longer, and then she went to the supermarket to replenish her ingredients, which unwittingly delayed her time.

Fearing that Duan Min had been hungry for a long time, she fried two dishes quickly.

But Duan Min didn't seem to have much of an appetite today, so he put down his chopsticks after eating two bites. Even after eating, he couldn't eat much.

Fortunately, there were not many dishes, and it wasn’t too wasteful.

\---

In the next few days, Zhao Yiyan often invited You Xu out to dinner, You Xu that he was a figure among thousands of flowers. When he was in college, he changed girlfriends at the same speed as flipping through books and chased after the original host, but the original host wasn’t interested in him at all. Zhao Yiyan didn't get her attention for a long time, so it came to nothing.

Zhao Yiyan now shows so much enthusiasm that she can read his mind with her toes.

But people like Lin Lanlan have their own circle, if You Xu wanted to integrate, she’d have to build bridges, not for anything else, but to prevent the development of the plot later. if Lin Lanlan wanted to clean up You Xu's family, she wouldn't be able to escape.

You Xu would agree to Zhao Yiyan's invitation from time to time. Fortunately, he did not act out of line, and he was a normal social person, so he just ate and chatted with her.

It’s finally Lin Lanlan’s birthday. She is the only daughter of the chairman of a large group. There will be no shortage of anything for her birthday. In order to be polite, she put on exquisite makeup, wearing a skirt and high heels, and looked at herself carefully in the mirror.

After confirming that everything was all right, You Xu put out a dish for Duan Min at seven o'clock at night on the stool in the corridor before leaving.

Zhao Yiyan parked a short distance downstairs, leaning against the car door and waiting for her. Seeing her approaching, he couldn't help holding her left hand and kissing it: "You are beautiful tonight."

You Xu’s mouth slightly curved up and she withdrew her hand. "Thank you."

The two got into the car and sat down, Zhao Yiyan started the engine and the car started to merge into the lane.

In the building not far away, the window on the seventh floor was wide open, and there stood a man who stared at the car driving into the distance.

\--

T/N: I hate to do this to you but this chapter is suuper long, like double the pages of a normal chapter, So I have to split it into parts to keep up with the schedule. I’m sorry I’m uploading this late. After the blackouts and stuff, I couldn’t find the time to translate.

ATTENTION: If you’re a translator and you’d like to help me translate this novel, then I’d be very open to it as long as you can keep a consistent schedule. Please email me at Lazypandatranslations@gmail.com if you’re interested or message me on discord (Lazypanda#1781)


	9. Chapter 8.2

IAPVH Chapter 8.2

The location was a private villa. Zhao Yiyan led her all the way in and greeted people familiarly.

"Boss Zhao, a new female companion?" A woman said jokingly.

"Don't talk nonsense," Zhao Yiyan said with a smile. "This is my sister, You Xu."

You Xu followed him all the way in, smiling, and responding politely and appropriately.

"I didn't expect Boss Zhao to have such a beautiful sister." A man said.

"Thank you. You are also very handsome." You Xu said.

The interior and exterior of the villa were mainly decorated in a white European style. There are many famous paintings and expensive antiques on the walls. The center is a dance floor, and the sound of piano and cello is slowly flowed out.

There are still many people in the upper class who attend dinner parties to gain relationships and negotiate business.

Zhao Yiyan turned his head and smiled at You Xu: "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

You Xu didn't say anything, but smiled back politely. To tell you the truth, a handsome man said such ambiguous words to her affectionately, and the little girl was easily moved.

It may be that after watching Duan Min for a long time, her standard of beauty had been violently raised, which was not good for this type of flattering talk.

Zhao Yiyan led You Xu upstairs from the spiral staircase to the open-air terrace on the top floor with beautiful fireworks in the background. There were more than a dozen people, a man and a woman standing arm in arm in the center. The handsome man and woman stood out very conspicuously.

Zhao Yiyan picked up a glass of red wine and greeted the couple: "Shaoshi, Lan Lan."

Lin Lanlan was dressed in a dark red fishtail skirt, revealing a large area of skin on her back, her figure was beautiful, and her eyes were gourgeous. "Yo, brought new friends?"

Zhao Yiyan introduced: "This is You Xu, a juniour in our university." He turned to you and said, "This is Lin Lanlan, today's birthday star."

You Xu greeted her politely, Lin Lanlan nodded slightly.

Xu Shaoshi fixed his eyes on You Xu and it wasn’t clear what he was thinking.

Zhao Yiyan is a person who is good at getting acquainted with people. He quickly led the topic, and You Xu participateed appropriately. During this period, Xu Shaoshi clinks glasses with her with some inquiry in his eyes, but says with a warm smile, "You look like someone I know."

It sounded like a chat-up line, but You Xu understood that Xu Shaoshi was not joking. He is in love with You Qi, which probably means that she is a bit like You Qi.

You Xu's face didn't change, and her smile was awkward: "Your way of talking is a bit outdated."

Xu Shaoshi smiled and said nothing more.

Time went by, and a banquet soon came to an end. before leaving, Zhao Yiyan did not forget his mission and said to Lin Lanlan, "Lan Lan, you should leave contact information for Xiao Xu so that you’ll be able to become friends later."

Lin Lanlan was in a good mood tonight, You Xu was able to talk and behave properly, which left a good impression on her, so she gladly exchanged contact information with You Xu.

From the beginning to the end, Xu Shaoshi's eyes always seemed to fall on You Xu, bu You Xu didn’t notice.

Zhao Yiyan insisted on sending You Xu back, so she had no choice but to agree.

Night fell, the stars and moon were not visible, and the lights on the road and the shadows of the trees interlaced across the windows of the car, making the space inside the car half-bright.

The driver drove in front, Zhao Yiyan and You Xu sat in the back together.

You Xu felt a little tired and exhausted after dealing with this kind of communication, but Zhao Yiyan was obviously excited. He drank a lot of wine tonight, and he was close to her at the moment, babbling on.

"Xiao Xu, you didn't even have a boyfriend in college, and you don't have a boyfriend now, do you?"

"I don't know how you're doing all these years. Why didn’t you call Brother Shi? Did you forget about me?"

"I couldn't reach you several times. I thought you blocked me."

His arms and legs rubbed against her, he was no longer as polite as tonight and before, You Xu felt the heat and alcohol by her side, and she moved to the other side, unoticably.

Just when You Xu was already stuck to the car door and couldn’t back up any further, the car finally stopped downstairs. She immediately opened the door and got out of the car. She said quickly, "Thank you Brother Shi, for taking care of me today. Brother Shi should also go back to rest early."

Zhao Yiyan came out and grabbed her by the wrist. because of the alcohol, he was flushed, his eyes were bright, and his body staggered twice. he stepped forward and hugged You Xu, putting his head on her neck and exhaled lightly: "How do you want to thank me?"

"I've done you such a big favor," he said, touching You Xu's waist through the fabric. "Why don't you invite me upstairs for a cup of tea?"

Today, You Xu was wearing a shoulder-length dress. She had a hot face on her shoulder, chills ran up and down You Xu’s spine. She closed her eyes, clenched her teeth, and was about to lift her foot to give him a fatal kick. The weight on her suddenly became lighter, and Zhao Yiyan was thrown out like a sandbag.

You Xu was stunned for half a second, and looked at her half-lifted leg subconsciously. Wait, she didn't even touch him yet.

With a muffled "bang", Zhao Yiyan was thrown against the wall, then slipped from the wall and fell to the ground, shrinking into a ball, trembling in pain..

In the blink of an eye, she saw the eldest brother Cuntou coming out of nowhere. After throwing Zhao Yiyan, he calmly walked over and grabbed Zhao Yiyan by the neck, lifing him up and pressing him against the wall.

Zhao Yiyan's whole face was flushed from suffocation, his mouth opened and closed, he was unable to speak a word, and could only make small and vague sounds.

You Xu remembered that this big brother Cuntou, who smashed people he disagreed with into walls, was the person she met in the stairwell that day. He had no light in his eyes and was now a puppet manipulated by Duan Min. 

Knowingly, she looked to the other side. In the corner downstairs, there was a tall man standing. There was no street light and her field of view was dark. The man almost merged with the darkness and it was difficult to notice that there was someone there without looking closely.

You Xu whispered, "Duan Min?"

The dark shadow moved and walked towards her step by step, and walked into the light circle projected by the street lamp on her side. His face was half illuminated, and his expression looked dull and unclear.

Duan Min stopped two meters away from her and said in a cold voice, "Why are you close to him these days?"

His eyes were dark, and the light was so dim that was difficult to distinguish the emotions in his eyes, only that the tone of his voice was too cold.

You Xu subconsciously let out a word: "What?"

After speaking, she finally understood. During this period of time, Duan Min sent someone to monitor her.

Duan Min didn't want to say anymore. he looked at Zhao Yiyan with stern eyes, said something in a low voice, and then snapped his fingers.

Brother Cuntou let go of Zhao Yiyan. Zhao Yiyan stood blankly, without expression or movement. A manipulated puppet.

Duan Min pointed to him and asked, "Tell me your purpose for getting close to her."

Zhao Yiyan opened his mouth and replied, "I want to bang her."

You Xu: "." She still wanted to make up for him

Duan Min’s eyebrows narrowed, his mouth curling up into a smile, showing white teeth, and said in a chilling tone: "Wrong answer, you want to die."

Zhao Yiyan repeated: "I want to die."

Then he turned sideways, facing the wall, and slammed his head down hard, again and again, smashing the wall with his forehead.

You Xu was surprised and looked at the driver in the car. The driver did not respond, and he should have been controlled by Duan Min. She scanned the surroundings again to make sure there were no cameras.

By the time she was sure she was safe, Zhao Yiyan had smashed his head.

On the dark night, the cool breeze was bleak, the light was dim, and the blood-stained man was still madly slamming the wall with his head crazily, letting out muffled noises, and blood flowers blossomed on the ground.

The scene was very bloody and violent.

You Xu saw that Duan Min's expression remained unchanged, and he didn't mean to stop at all. The dark scarlet under his eyes held a real killing intent, and he didn't hide it.

You Xu couldn't accept the scene of a man being smashed to death in front of her, and she was afraid that Duan Min would be in trouble, so she stepped forward and grabbed his clothes: "Okay, stop it."

Duan Min glanced at her, his lips were pressed together, his face was heavy and he looked unhappy, but he still snapped his fingers.

Zhao Yiyan received the instruction and immediately stopped, lost his strength, fell into the corner and fainted.

You Xu wanted to see if he was alive or dead, but after taking a step, Duan Min clasped her wrist vigorously and she was pulled all the way to the building.

He twisted his eyebrows, his eyes were dark, and there was a layer of black mist could not dissipate. His intense emotions made him breathe quickly, his chest rose and fell, and the fingers on her wrist were slightly white.

You Xu was gripped painfully, but she resisted saying anything, as she thought quickly about how to deal with her current situation.

Duan Min did not give her a response, took her all the way back to the seventh floor, and refused to let You Xu go back to her room, instead, dragging her into his house.

As soon as the door opened, You Xu immediately froze. His room...

Every part of his room was black, with black walls, sofas, floors, and furniture, and there was hardly any other color to be found.

The depressed and heavy feeling was so overwhelming that it could make one struggle to breathe.

Duan Min kept walking and took You Xu directly to the laboratory.

The laboratory finally had some other colors, but it mostly was white and silver, huge test benches, and experimental beds, and then a bunch of instruments that she didn’t recognize.

You Xu suddenly remembered her original ending in the storyline, being confined by Duan Min on the experimental bed, watching with a clear consciousness as she was dismembered, and finally dying in pain.

"Wait, what on earth is going on?" You Xu couldn’t calm down. "It turned out that I worked so hard just to go back to the original plot."

The system sadly came out and said: "The villain's trust value is only 35, I am afraid it is useless for you to be coquettish and beg for mercy now."

What the hell? Some time ago, it slowly rose to 50, and now it is only 35! Can this thing drop?

Duan Min loosened his grip on her wrist, walked to the test-bed, scanned the equipment on the table, picked up a scalpel and walked towards You Xu with a smile on his face.

You Xu swallowed hard, and she became stiff as cold sweat ran down her back, crazy shouting at the system: "I’m fucking dying, help me!"

"Right now, I’m a low-end version, and many permissions are not enabled, I really can not save you, although this will go on your record as a failed task." the system encouraged, "At least you can work hard in the next world."

Listening to the system’s gloating, You Xu gritted her teeth: "Then give me a pain shielding system."

"Insufficient authority," the system said lightly. "No way, dear."

...oh, my god, what the fuck is this unreliable system.

You Xu cursed two dirty words, and she was about to collapse. She really didn't know why the plot was going in such a direction. She didn't have time to think about it. She was not afraid of death, but she was really afraid of pain, especially the feeling of being cut to death with a knife. The feeling of pain, just thinking about it would make her scalp feel tight.

This broken door didn't even have a doorknob. After closing it, You Xu couldn't open it. Looking at it again, there was no window in this confined space, and she didn't know where to escape.

You Xu banged against the door twice, and Duan Min came behind her. He circled her with one hand and said lightly, "Only I can open the door."

His indifferent tone made You Xu's scalp numb, and her hair stood upright. You Xu struggled desperately in his arms, but the disparity of strength made her struggle look particularly weak.

Duan Min clasped her two wrists and pressed her against the door panel, You Xu subconsciously raised her leg to kick him, but he bent his legs slightly to suppress her movement.

You Xu’s whole body was severely pressed down by him on the door and she couldn’t move, the two people were so close to each other that she could even smell his breath, and the intimate distance made her a little hot.

She smiled with a straight face and said, "Let's have a good talk. Are you hungry? What do you want to eat? I'll cook it for you now."

If one meal can't solve the problem, then two.

"You betrayed me." He said.

A dull voice sounded above her head, You Xu was stunned and she didn’t react.

Without giving her time to respond, Duan Min leaned down and looked at her. "I don't want to give you another chance to betray me."

He shook the scalpel in his hand, and a white cold light lit up in his eyes.

"So--" Duan Min deliberately stretched out the end of the word and smiled like a heinous hell ghost.

"Do you want to know what it's like to be a puppet?"

T/N: Sorry I didn't update last week, It was a tough week for me.

ATTENTION: If you’re a translator and you’d like to help me translate this novel, then I’d be very open to it as long as you can keep a consistent schedule. Please email me at Lazypandatranslations@gmail.com if you’re interested or message me on discord (Lazypanda#1781)


	10. Chapter 9

IAPVH Chapter 9.1

The zombie king can only manipulate the dead, and the puppet master can manipulate the living. Duan Min, known as the puppet king, can manipulate both the dead and the living.

It's just that he hates the smell of living people, so usually, he kills people and then manipulates their corpses.

In the end, he didn't want to let You Xu die.

After a whole night, Duan Min calmed down completely and sat face to face with You Xu on the big black bed in his bedroom. He recalled his previous emotions carefully. His heart was constantly pressed to supply blood, shortness of breath and chest tightness, and unstable heart rate.

A reaction he’s never had before.

When he unconsciously opened the window and saw her and a man go away in a car and then seeing her being sent back downstairs by that man. He became inexplicably irritable and anxious.

He asked the puppet to spy on them and learned that they always ate together, while he could only wait silently at home, his heart was tight and blocked.

Duan Min kept telling himself that, You Xu is a normal person, unlike him, she should have her own life and social circle, and he has no right to interfere.

But last night, he watched her dress up carefully and wear fine makeup, and when she left with the man in the car again, his throat became so tight that he went downstairs for the first time in five years at 6 o'clock in the evening. She didn't come back until one o'clock in the morning, and she came back with that man.

They were cuddling each other in the distance, and You Xu smiled at the man, and Duan Min realized that she could smile like that to anyone, no different from her usual smile directed towards him.

Not far away, the intimate picture and a new cognition completely overwhelmed Duan Min's sanity, causing his backlog of emotions to burst out.

There were only two thoughts in his mind, one was to make that man die, and the other was to make You Xu his puppet. She could only eat with him, smile at him, and could only get close to him.

She only belongs to him.

This thought grew so long that it could not be cut off.

Duan Min felt a sharp pain because You Xu stood on the opposite side of him and wanted to protect the man and to stop him from hurting the person she cared about.

Obviously, she heard it all, and the man only thought of her badly, but she still wanted to be with the man and tossed him aside.

That man is cared about by her so much.

Duan Min was in so much pain again.

No wonder she already knew his identity, knew that he was a monster, knew that he was very different from ordinary people, and would eventually be afraid of him, hate him, and then alienate him.

She would never cook or smile for him again.

The feeling of betrayal made Duan Min angry, but while he was extremely angry, he had a kind of inexplicable grievance.

He was abandoned.

When Duan Min pointed the scalpel at Youxu, his fingertips touched her body temperature and he could no longer do it. If she was turned into a dead thing, she would lose her temperature.

He couldn't do it.

Duan Min looked at You Xu, who was sitting quietly in front of him. She was still wearing yesterday's yellow dress, showing a nice collarbone and delicate arms.

She seemed to like bright colors very much, unlike him.

One is a person who lives in the sun, and the other is a monster accustomed to dark swamps. What should he do? She should be dragged into the swamp as well.

Duan Min, who had been sitting quietly on the bed for a long time, finally made a move. His eyes swept up and down You Xu's neck, then he got up and found a wet handkerchief to wipe her neck. He moved gently and carefully wiped it over and over again.

He let the man hit the wall with his face only because he pressed his face against her neck.

His movements were very light, but her delicate skin turned red from the motions. He reached out and rubbed her reddish neck for a while, looked slightly down at her left hand, and then wiped her left hand, which Zhao Yiyan had kissed several times.

He held her left hand and looked at it silently for a few seconds, then he lowered his head and dropped a gentle kiss on the back of her hand.

"You are mine."

Duan Mi’s mouth raised up into an arc as he lifted his hand and touched her head, and dragged it all the way down until he touched her cheek with a smile in his eyes, his eyes were very focused, and he moved gently and slowly, like a child stroking his beloved toy.

His thumb rested on the corner of her lips. "You should laugh now."

You Xu followed his instructions and bent the corners of her lips stiffly.

"Yes," Duan Min smiled. "You should laugh more happily."

You Xu's eyes were hollow, and she could only obediently pull the corners of her lips to a larger extent, bringing out two small dimples.

"Yes, that's it," Duan Min couldn't help poking the two dimples with his fingers. "From now on, you will show me a smile like this."

You Xu couldn’t answer yes or no, she can only do it.

Duan Min looked at the time and said to her, "It's time for breakfast. Go and make breakfast."

You Xu obediently got out of bed and followed Duan Min to the kitchen. He remembered that there was nothing in his kitchen and that this place had always been used as a decoration.

You Xu’s kitchen was very complete, but he doesn't want her to step outside of his door at all. She wants to stay here with him forever.

Duan Min had to tell the puppet to buy kitchen utensils and ingredients. Everything was ready at noon. You Xu entered the kitchen, picked up the ingredients mechanically, washed them, and prepared to cut vegetables.

As Duan Min watched, he felt a little uncomfortable. In the past, she was very comfortable when she was cooking. Her movements were very cheerful, with a smile on her face, and she would unconsciously hum some tunes so that the people watching could share her happiness.

Now she washes vegetables with an expressionless face, and every movement is as stiff as if she was coping with instructions, with no sense of happiness at all.

Duan Min frowned slightly: "You should be very happy. You want to smile."

You Xu bent the corners of her mouth, put the washed pork on the chopping board, picked up a kitchen knife and began to cut the meat.

"Stop." Duan Min said suddenly.

You Xu immediately stopped, the kitchen knife hanging in mid-air.

He walked quickly to take away the kitchen knife from her hand. As soon as she began to cut, Duan Min smelled blood. Sure enough, she scratched the index finger of her left hand. Fortunately, he gave instructions quickly, so it only scratched the skin and a bead of blood oozed out.

Manipulating other people's bodies with one's own mind is definitely less flexible than others using their own consciousness to make their bodies move, which is why the puppet's actions are not free and appear clumsy.

Duan Min tightened his brow, put her injured finger in his mouth and licked the beads of blood with the tip of his tongue as he patiently waited for her fingers to stop bleeding before releasing her.

"You go back and sit down, and I'll do it."

You Xu walked out of the kitchen step by step, Duan Min looked at the ingredients silently for a while, thinking about her previous cooking steps, and started cooking with his movements being jerky.

The vegetables were cut unevenly in size. After pouring half of the oil into the pan, he threw all the seasoning ingredients into the pan and stuffed the lid on.

Finally, a greasy and dark thing came out.

Duan Min crouched in front of You Xu with a plate and a small spoon. He could not help curling his lips and said proudly, "I can cook for you."

This was his first time cooking, and he was faintly looking forward to it.

"Come on, open your mouth and eat." He scooped a small spoonful into You Xu's mouth, and she chewed it blankly and then swallowed it.

"No wonder you like to cook for me." When Duan Min saw her eating what he had made, he swelled up with unspeakable satisfaction.

It makes him feel that although his cooking looks bad, maybe it tasted good.

Duan Min scooped a spoonful for himself, a salty, bitter, greasy taste filled his mouth instantly, and he struggled to resist the urge to vomit.

He crouched for a moment and looked up at You Xu’s unchanging face. His drooping eyelashes could not hide his frustration and pain.

Duan Min stared at her face for a long time and whispered, "I didn't do a good job. I won't let you eat this kind of food anymore."

He raised his hand and wiped the corners of her lips with his fingers.

Finally, Duan Min asked the puppet to go out and buy food, and he fed You Xu one spoonful after another. Her face didn’t show if she liked it or not, but she chewed and swallowed a lot faster.

Duan Min touched You Xu's bell. After feeding You Xu, he didn’t eat any food. He didn't like to eat at first, but some time ago, he was cared for by You Xu, and now he can't eat any other food.

"I can feed you."

After Duan Min packed the lunch box, he sat next to You Xu, hugging her in his arms, putting his chin on the top of her head, smelling her, and said contentedly, "We'll be together in the future."

"Always together, right here."

"Although I can no longer eat the food you cook," he lowered his eyes. "What does it matter?"

As long as she stays by his side, he will feel at ease.

\---

The black door and heavy curtains were like barriers that isolated them from the outside world, and the whole world seemed to have shrunk to the hundred meters square that they were in.

In addition to watering the jasmine pot and basking in the sun, Duan Min no longer opened the curtains and windows and spent almost all his time lying in bed and keeping You Xu in his arms.

He doesn't have to be alone in the lab anymore.

Duan Min wiped You Xu, changed her clothes and combed her hair every day, like a little girl taking care of her doll.

At night, Duan Min held her in his arms, pinched her face, couldn't help curling his lips up and said, "Good, I didn't make you thin."

He touched her hair, kneaded her face, swept her eyelashes with his fingers, having a lot of fun, and finally his eyes fell on her rosy lips.

He first pressed her lips with the tip of his finger, it was soft and warm, and uncontrollably lowered his head to cover it.

The touch and temperature on his lips made him feel a little nervous, and his breath was unstable, a tingling sensation crawling along the nerve endings on his back.

Like brilliant fireworks exploded in his mind.

The strange feeling made him somewhat addicted.

Duan Min kissed her deeply all the way, until her lips became red and swollen, then he reluctantly backed away.

"All right, go to sleep." He dropped a kiss on her forehead and You Xu closed her eyes obediently.

Feeling the warm body temperature of the person in his arms and the sound of her even breathing in his ears, this made Duan Min's mind more stable than ever before. He fell asleep,which he rarely does, and didn’t dream all night.

Duan Min thought he would be satisfied with this, but as long as you give a little root time to grow, it could break through the ground and grow into a towering tree.

The days slipped by, and soon more than half a month passed.

Duan Min said to You Xu again, "Smile."

You Xu bend the corners of her lips obediently.

Duan Min frowned: "Not like this smile, you smile again."

You Xu bent the corners of her lips and smiled again.

Duan Min raised his hand and touched the corner of her lips: "You should smile more happily."

The corner of her lips curved more, but there was nothing in her eyes, like a body without a soul.

Duan Min looked at her for a few seconds, lowered his eyelashes and said in a low voice: "Ok."

You Xu returned to her expressionless look with dark and empty eyes.

Duan Min reached out to cover her eyes and kissed her across the back of her hand. He let out a long sigh, but said nothing.

In the past few nights, he finally had a dream. All he dreamed of was the way You Xu hummed a little tune while she was cooking. She looked at him eating vegetables and smiled. She was lying lazily on the sofa and napping, even when she was sleeping, she had a small smile on her face.

But now she will never smile at him like that again.

Her smile lost its content and color, like a faded landscape painting, so blotchy that her original appearance couldn’t be seen clearly.

She's not supposed to be like this.

Duan Min wavered and he wanted to unlock the manipulation on You Xu, but this idea only slightly appeared before it was instantly suppressed by him.

He dare not.

He didn't dare to gamble at all.

You Xu already knew what he is, he’s just a bloody and violent monster, anyone would be afraid of him like that, and she was no exception.

As long as he removes the manipulation, she will avoid him, with a look of disgust and fear in her eyes.

Thinking of this, Duan Min's heart was sharply stabbed with countless glass shards. He lifted You Xu's chin and stared at her dim eyes, "Are you afraid of me?"

"Do you hate me?" Duan Min gave the order, "Answer."

The next moment he said, "Don't say it."

He suddenly didn't want to hear the answer, not at all.

As long as You Xu can be with him as she is now, nothing else matters, and he doesn't mind.

People like him are destined to not desire too much.

Until one night, Duan Min suddenly woke up, and he keenly smelled a trace of blood.

Is she hurt?!

Duan Min hurriedly lifted the quilt and carefully looked for the place where she was injured, there was nothing on her head, arms, waist...

Duan Min grabbed one of her ankles and raised it slightly, and the white skirt slid back along with the movement.

He saw bloodstains on her white cotton skirt, and some of it had penetrated into the sheets, making a dark spot.

Duan Min stiffened, didn’t move for a while, and then he immediately lifted the quilt that covered her.

He took two steps back, froze, his mind went blank, his face went from dazed to flushed, and his neck turned completely red.

She was.

She is... It's been a month.

T/N: I was actually going to split this chapter but I realized that it wasn’t that long and I decided to translate the whole thing😂

ATTENTION: If you’re a translator and you’d like to help me translate this novel, then I’d be very open to it as long as you can keep a consistent schedule. Please email me at Lazypandatranslations@gmail.com if you’re interested or message me on discord (Lazypanda#1781)


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